There is no hope left in my country. Hope got packed in a suitcase and taken across the border in search of a break – a break from trying to sustain a country that has been in freefall for years. There is no food, but there are bullets. There is no medicine, but malaria has returned. There is no democracy, but there, misery abounds.

The other day, I was robbed leaving the pharmacy. They ripped the earrings out of my ears.I arrived at the emergency room, still bleeding.

Nevertheless, I thank God I wasn’t kidnapped like a friend of mine. They let her go after three days because she refused to eat. But she still missed her granddaughter’s wedding. Her granddaughter, like mine, lives abroad now.

Every week, there are fewer people in mass.People my age are dying. Young people are leaving to find a life elsewhere. My daughter wants me to leave too. But I don’t want to die in another country.

I always thought aging was like being shipwrecked, and Venezuela is a deserted island.